Are Fantasy Sports Leagues legal?

As with any other illegal gambling matter, if a fantasy sports league involves the elements of (1) prize, (2) chance and (3) consideration, then it is an illegal "lottery" prohibited by Kansas criminal law. See K.S.A. 21-6404. Typically, fantasy leagues involve participants ("owners" or "managers") who assemble a fantasy team via a pretend draft of professional athletes. Each manager's team then accumulates points based on their selections' weekly individual performances.

In most local fantasy sports leagues, the prize and consideration elements are not in doubt. As prizes, local leagues typically award something valuable to the top finishers. Prizes can include cash, gift certificates, televisions, or other items redeemed from tickets. Likewise, the "consideration" element is not doubtful in leagues that require managers to pay some fee to participate. Under Kansas law, consideration means "anything which is a commercial or financial advantage to the promoter or a disadvantage to any participant." K.S.A. 21-6403(c). The facts of each fantasy league resolve whether the consideration element is met. Certainly, if the fantasy league requires an entry fee payment, "buy-in", "ownership fee" or required "donation," then the consideration element is satisfied.

The only element that fantasy league participants attempt to counter is that fantasy leagues are predominantly games of chance. Under Kansas law, the chance element is satisfied if it predominates over any skill involved. See Games Management, Inc. v. Owens, 233 Kan. 444, 446, 662 P.2d 260 (1983) (calling it the "dominant factor" test). We do not argue that there are some elements of skill involved in fantasy leagues. Particularly, fantasy managers must be knowledgeable of player statistics, and must execute some strategy in selecting the best players for their fantasy team. On the other hand, a manager leaves to chance a number of things, including: (1) how a drafted athlete performs in a future event; (2) whether a drafted player is injured; (3) whether the player's actual team in a given week executes a game plan that fits the player's talents; whether the coach calls plays that favor the player; and (4) how opponents of the actual player (who may be drafted by another manager) actually play. For those reasons, chance predominates over skill in fantasy sports leagues.

In short, if a fantasy sports league has a buy-in (no matter what it is called) for its managers and gives a prize, then all three elements of an illegal lottery are satisfied. The Florida Attorney General's office reached the same conclusion in its formal opinion AGO91-03.

August 28, 2014 – More about Fantasy Sports Leagues:

Despite what you may have heard recently in the press, Kansas has not suddenly changed its “policy” on the legality of fantasy sports leagues (FSL), and the information posted about FSLs on the KRGC’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) webpage is not new. There is no law that directly addresses FSLs or any other specific gambling enterprise (poker runs, casino nights, etc.). To our knowledge, no agency at the State or local level is ramping up efforts to go after FSL participants. The KRGC receives many calls from the public, law enforcement, prosecutors, attorneys, reporters, legislators and government agencies asking us to explain Kansas gambling laws and provide an opinion about whether a particular activity they want to conduct, participate in, write about or investigate is legal. In response, we have posted on our website answers to the most frequently asked questions that we receive as a service to the public and as a way of reducing the volume of phone calls that come into our agency. These responses are based on our extensive review and analysis of Kansas gambling statutes and case law as well as review and analysis of other states’ statutes and case law. The answers to the FAQs on the KRGC website represent the agency’s interpretation of the law based on this analysis. Ultimately, the legality of any particular fantasy sports league enterprise (or any other gambling enterprise) would have to be resolved in a court of law, based on the facts of the particular case and a court’s own legal analysis of Kansas gambling laws. Please note that we occasionally remove FAQ postings for the purpose of editing verbiage, adding new items, or changing formats. Nothing should be read into these additions, removals or updates as they do not represent anything other than the agency’s efforts to better educate the public on gambling laws. Gambling laws are enacted by the legislature, and enforcement of gambling laws that apply to the general public are under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement agencies. To obtain more information about fantasy sports leagues or other gambling topics, to discuss the accuracy of any media articles or blog posts, or to obtain information for the purpose of accurately reporting on Kansas gambling laws, please do not hesitate to contact the KRGC at (785)296-5800 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.